United will travel to the Middle East on Thursday following their Premier League clash at Arsenal the day before, making full use of their 10-day gap between fixtures due to them no longer being involved in the FA Cup.

The Red Devils lost 2-1 to Swansea in their third-round tie last month, a game in which Ferdinand picked up a knee injury that ruled him out for a fortnight.

Ferdinand has not appeared in the Premier League for the defending champions since November and it was speculated that the centre-back, who is tipped to leave Old Trafford this summer, will not be joining his teammates for their trip abroad.

However, Moyes denied the reports, saying: “I can only tell you that what was written was a load of rubbish, complete nonsense. We’ll have a few days away. We have a big Champions League game [against Olympiakos] coming up in just over a week's time.”

His fellow centre-back and club captain Nemanja Vidic announced last week that he will be leaving the club this summer, while left-back Patrice Evra and player-coach Ryan Giggs will also see their current deals end.

Moyes claimed last week that Ferdinand remains very much in his immediate plans, saying: "Rio has made a great contribution, especially in the first half of the season. I played him in nearly all the opening eight to 10 games.

"He was a big part in helping me to settle. He has competition at centre-half but he is very much valued and looked at as one of the senior players."

Ferdinand was an unused substitute on Sunday as United were pegged back to 2-2 at home to Fulham.